Career Development: A Two-Way Street

According to management guru Tom Peters, a
professional’s career today can mean as many as
10 jobs, in five companies or firms, in three
industries. Young professionals—including your
associates—are on the move. That makes
keeping the keepers, and finding new leaders, a
huge challenge for law firms. At the same time,
finding a career that is stimulating and rewarding
is a huge challenge for lawyers. Talent is the key
component to competitive advantage. Help your
lawyers build their skills and develop their
careers, and both they and the firm will reap the
benefits.

How to do it?

Karen MacKay led a discussion that
resulted in a wealth of wide-ranging ideas on the
issues involved in career development planning.

Who’s in Charge of a Lawyer’s Development?
April 2004 Law Practice 49

KAREN MACKAY: What responsibility do
individual lawyers have in planning their
careers? And what responsibility does the firm
have in that process?

by Karen MacKay, MBA, CHIC
President

STEWART WHITTINGHAM: In his book True Professionalism, David Maister says:

“Remember, planning your career is up to you not your firm. If your career path doesn’t work
out, the results will be a lot more painful for you
than for your firm.”

Although I agree that each lawyer must play a
key role in his or her development, the firm must
serve as a resource. Competencies, performance
reviews and development plans facilitate twoway
communication to help align a lawyer’s
strengths and interests with the firm’s strategic
direction.

CAREN STACEY: Only the individual truly
knows what drives him or her, so it’s really that
person’s responsibility to plan his or her career.
However, realizing that the path to partnership is
paved with uncertainty in today’s market, it is in
the firm’s best interest to share this burden of
responsibility by providing information about
career options. This proactive guidance can help
lawyers choose the right path and move toward a
positive end result, ultimately benefiting the
individual and the firm.

JIM HARGARTEN: I agree that it is the
associate’s ultimate responsibility. However, we
must provide the resources to help associates
walk down that path. While doing so, we must fully understand that for many, this path will
ultimately lead them elsewhere, and that’s okay.

LISA KEYES: For both associates and partners,
career development requires initiative. The firm
should provide information about its strategic
direction and provide support for achieving
success within that framework.

It’s a Two-Way Balancing Act.

MACKAY: There is a tremendous investment
involved in developing people. How do you
balance the needs of the firm with the needs of
the individual?

HARGARTEN: A natural economic tension
exists within the firm when it comes to the
investment. It is the role of mentors, practice
group chairs and professional development
departments to address this tension.

WHITTINGHAM: Our professional
development philosophy promotes a balance
between the needs of the firm and the needs of
our lawyers. We feel that our lawyers will learn
the most by practicing law, talking to other
lawyers, interacting with our clients, reading in
an effort to keep current, and attending a
strategic mix of in-house and external CLE
programs. This philosophy demands
responsibility on the part of the firm. However,
there is also a responsibility on the shoulders of
each individual lawyer.

STACEY: Balance can be achieved through
two-way communication. Only firm leadership
knows what it is planning. Only associates know
what they would like to get out of it. Until these
two discuss their interests, a gap remains. We try
to ensure that the different interests are working
together, so the recruiting committee is
interconnected with the professional
development and evaluation committees. This
keeps communication open and helps everyone
work toward the greater goal—lawyer and client
satisfaction.

KEYES: One way to facilitate that two-way
communication is to have associates and partners
interacting together on committees. This is where
one learns how consensus is forged, how
decisions are made and what the responsibilities
are of everyone involved.

The Benefits Carry Over to Alumni
Relationships

MACKAY: A career lasts perhaps 40 years.
Your people should be in your recruiting
database, then in your professional development
database and then in your marketing database.

How do your firms continue the relationship
with the people who become alumni?

KEYES: We formally contact alumni at least
twice annually. And alumni who are clients are
often invited to in-house CLE programs. We also
host a monthly electronic luncheon for clients,
some of whom are alumni. Recently, we
sponsored a program that included a panel of
alumni who are now clients. We discussed the
key attributes relevant to the decision to give
work to outside counsel. That was a great way to
show those alumni what we are doing to develop
our current lawyers and to deepen relationships.

HARGARTEN: That raises a critical point.
Indeed, the majority of my current clients are
former associates. I think firms sometimes set
expectations too high—assuming that all new
associates will be with the firm for the long haul.
It is important to be prepared that this may not be
the case. Give associates the best training,
guidance and development that will assist them
when they leave and then stay in contact with
them. That way, they will become a huge
resource.

STACEY: Our goal is to take a proactive
approach early to help associates choose the best
career path. Ultimately, if they choose
advancement externally, we offer resources to
assist in their next endeavor. We are now hiring
a career development specialist who will work
full-time with lawyers to develop individual
career and professional planning. If a lawyer
decides against partnership, or realizes that
partnership is infeasible at this time, that person
has an outlet in the firm to help decide the best
next step and discuss options outside of the firm.

WHITTINGHAM: More and more firms are
acknowledging the importance of being
proactive in professional and career development
initiatives. The theme of our 2003 First-Year
Associate Academy was “Taking Charge of
Your Career.” We discussed career action plans,
short- and long-term planning and the
importance of fluidity. Although the goal for our
associates is partnership, we understand that
some will become alumni. Our firm maintains an
alumni database and organizes an annual alumni
event. Our culture lends itself to these ongoing relationships.

How Do You Deal with the Naysayers?

MACKAY: Playing antagonist now, what do
you say to partners weary of training and
investing in associates only to have them leave?

STACEY: I’ll respond with the old saying,
“What if you train them and they leave? Well,
what if you don’t and they stay?”

KEYES: I say partners in large firms will only
succeed if they delegate work to associates and
leverage themselves.
There really is no choice. Recognizing that some
will leave, you look for other returns. If you have
invested in associates, they may one day invest
back in your firm.

HARGARTEN: Ultimately, we are going to
have people who will remember the firm fondly
as they move on to their own careers.

WHITTINGHAM: I agree. Firms must evaluate
the investment in their lawyers’ ongoing
development from a very optimistic perspective.
We should always remember that our lawyers
may one day be our clients.

Clients Can Join in the Process

The roundtable members all strongly believe that
firms should formalize a career development
plan around the following basic components:

An introduction to the firm and its
practice,

A clear description of expectations,

An effective mentoring program,

Performance evaluations as a
development planning tool,

Substantive legal training.

Development of management and
leadership skills

Variety in Associates’ Workloads: Constructive
and timely Feedback
April 2004 Law Practice 51

MACKAY: Are your firms partnering with key
clients in the development of both
young professionals and the young lawyers in
the clients’ legal departments?

KEYES: Some clients are taking a stronger interest in working together to develop a training
curriculum, such as a practical litigation series,
for example. None of these have come to
complete fruition yet, but I am seeing more
interest in the clients wanting to do it.

STACEY: We invite our clients to many of our
in-house programs and sometimes conduct
programs specifically for clients. Many of our
clients rely on us to provide annual training, and
sometimes CLE credit, to meet professional
development needs.

HARGARTEN: We have implemented an
innovative “Client Satisfaction Program,” in
which we take a weekend to bring senior
associates together with about a dozen clients.
We listen to clients evaluate law firms and do
some role playing. Our clients love it, and it
provides a good experience for all involved.

WHITTINGHAM: In addition to offering CLE
programs for clients, we have invited clients to
attend programs developed for our lawyers. We
also publish and distribute “Issue Profiles” that
focus on current legal issues. And recently, a
client participated in an in-house client service
program that proved to be a great success.

Where Are Some of the New Training
Grounds?

MACKAY: Do you have innovative ideas for
career development that you’d like to share?

WHITTINGHAM: We developed a program
titled “Make Yourself an Expert.” Participation
is currently voluntary. Essentially, individuals
have the opportunity to learn everything there is
to learn about one particular type of document or
clause and all of the law underlying it. Each
participant is also asked to assemble resources
that can be used by other firm members via the
intranet. Partners participate as project coaches,
providing both research and drafting guidance.
With the program’s primary goal being lawyer
development, this program also introduces junior
lawyers to the firm’s knowledge management
resources.

HARGARTEN: I agree we need to start early,
but I caution against frontloading too much in
the early years. Sometimes a disconnect forms
between the training opportunities offered and
the actual opportunities available to use that
training. For this reason, we have begun
stretching formal training opportunities so that
they coincide with the best time for that training
to be meaningful and usable.

STACEY: We offer associates a certain number
of billable-equivalent hours per year to observe
and shadow more-experienced lawyers at
depositions, client meetings, hearings and other
important activities. We believe the best way to
truly learn and master a skill is to do it.
Observing successful lawyers engaging in actual
client activities also provides a great learning experience.

Future Leaders Need Early Opportunities

MACKAY: A previous Roundtable,
published in the October issue of Law Practice,
focused on building new leadership. How do you
identify, develop and retain the future leaders in
your firm?

STACEY: We place people in leadership
opportunities early in their careers. Doing so
allows them to develop as leaders and helps to
identify and retain good associates by giving
them a voice in the firm. It’s difficult and
arguably impossible to train someone to lead, but
putting people in a position where they can use
their abilities gives them a chance to learn and
grow as leaders.

“FOR BOTH ASSOCIATES AND PARTNERS,
CAREER DEVELOPMENT REQUIRES
INITIATIVE. THE FIRM SHOULD PROVIDE
INFORMATION ABOUT ITS STRATEGIC
DIRECTION AND PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR
ACHIEVING SUCCESS WITHIN THAT
FRAMEWORK.”—Lisa Keyes
52 April 2004 Law Practice

“FIRMS MUST EVALUATE THE
INVESTMENT IN THEIR LAWYERS’
ONGOING DEVELOPMENT FROM A VERY
OPTIMISTIC PERSPECTIVE. WE SHOULD
ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT OUR
LAWYERS MAY ONE DAY BE OUR
CLIENTS.” —Stewart Whittingham

WHITTINGHAM: Through a variety of
committees, we endeavor to get individuals
involved to give them leadership experience. The
true leaders will surface. I also think that
mentoring can play a key role in cultivating
strong leadership skills.

HARGARTEN: Firms tend to confuse
administration and leadership. Some people are
very good administrators but lack the vision
necessary to become good leaders. Law firms
need to separate these two qualities. They need
to identify visionaries and provide them with
leadership opportunities.

KEYES: Give people the opportunity to begin
showing their vision and their leadership skills
early. This allows them to gain the skills
necessary to develop into effective leaders later.

It’s a Continuing—and Essential—Process

MACKAY: What final thoughts would you like
to share on our topic?

WHITTINGHAM: Never lose sight of the
importance of strategy. Communicate the firm’s
strategic vision and promote two-way
communication. Success will only happen if the
firm and its lawyers are headed in the same direction.

STACEY: Since a firm’s success depends on the
success of its lawyers, career development
benefits each individual while also advancing the
firm’s business goals. This balance is best
achieved through thoughtful planning and
preparation.

HARGARTEN: Never before has thriving as an
associate in a law firm been more difficult. The
economic pressures on both the firm and the
associate are tremendous. Associates today
understand the need to develop careers in
relatively short order. To achieve success, they
must develop specialties and become known in
those specialties. The role of professional
development departments has never been more
important.

KEYES: Indeed, professional development is
essential for both associates and partners.
Partners must continue to develop skills and
areas of expertise and continue to evolve as the
markets change. I encourage all lawyers to think
about it from the time they become associates
until the time they become equity partners and
beyond.

Lisa Keyes is a partner and Director of Professional Development at the Atlanta office of King & Spalding, which has 750 lawyers in five offices. Until July 2003 she was a full-time practicing lawyer with a technology transaction practice.

Caren Ulrich Stacey is Director of Professional Development at Arnold & Porter LLP, which has 700 lawyers in eight offices. She works out of the Washington, D.C., office and manages work coordination, mentoring, evaluation, training and diversity. She oversees recruiting as well.

Stewart Whittingham is Director of Professional Development for Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, a business law firm with 240 lawyers in Toronto, Montreal, New York and Beijing. He designs, develops and conducts inhouse training programs.